Tuesday, August 21, 2007

A lot of the Republicans around here are sorely vexed with their county party leadership for reneging on support of the PutItOnTheBallot.com referendum drive. Here's one Republican who knows his duty. Mike Dovilla, from Iraq, is exhorting his Dovilla's Guerrillas and the rest of us to wage war back here on the home front to take back our vote and our county. I just got this email this morning:

Dear Fellow Greater Clevelanders,

As you probably know, Cuyahoga County Commissioners Jimmy Dimora and Tim Hagan have raised our sales tax by an additional ¼ percent without a vote of the people. "Put It On The Ballot," a non-partisan campaign organized by Democrats, Republicans, Greens and Libertarians, seeks to place a referendum on the ballot for citizens to decide whether this tax hike should stand.

While this is, indeed, a non-partisan issue that impacts all residents of our county, it is yet one more example of the unbridled arrogance demonstrated by the Democrat incumbents, who have occupied all three seats on our County Commission for well over a decade. As such, I am compelled to reach out to you, my loyal supporters from last year's Congressional campaign and fellow fiscal conservatives, to ask for your assistance.

We Clevelanders can no longer afford to stand by while an irresponsible, unaccountable county government continues to drive businesses and residents out of Cuyahoga County by repeatedly raising taxes and wasting revenue on an expanding bureaucracy and ill-conceived projects such as the proposed destruction and reconstruction of the county administration building.

These failed policies have led directly to the mass exodus of our fellow Clevelanders, which has in turn shrunk the county's tax base. At the same time, however, we must ask: why are ever more dollars required to provide services for ever fewer residents? Talk to your friends. I guarantee someone you know who used to live in one of our communities now lives in North Ridgeville, Brunswick, or one of a number of other cities just beyond the county line – and the reach of Jimmy Dimora's voracious appetite for your hard-earned tax dollars. Enough is enough.

To place this issue on the ballot, we must to collect the signatures of over 45,000 people who are registered to vote in Cuyahoga County by noon this Friday, August 24, 2007. The proponents of this initiative have made excellent progress during the last couple of weeks, and we need one final push to ensure enough signatures are submitted to the Board of Elections to reach the minimum – and additional signatures to cover those that are thrown out, something that always occurs in this process for a variety of reasons.

I encourage you to participate or pass this message to someone who is able to do so. Please contact Tim Ferris at 216-255-6640 or TAFerris@gmail.com this week and volunteer to help circulate petitions.